Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

mal services, In several of the larger cities as many as 100 persons were baptized in one year alone.? AUCECB President Zhidkov reported at the end of the first year that their central office had been flooded with 5,000 letters containing appeals for help. The dominant request was for Bibles. From many brothers and sisters locally came persistent requests to send various spiritual literature and especially Bibles, New Testaments and hymnbooks. We understand this need and the AUCECB is very concerned that these needs are met but it will take time. For the time be- ing, brothers and sisters, one must be patient and earnestly ask the Lord to fulfill this urgent necessity.4 This early, surprisingly frank acknowledgement of the Bible hunger resurfaced in Bratskii Vestnik only infrequently thereafter, but for believers it became the major desire. Correspondence abroad, where Bibles were more plentiful, was extremely difficult during the first decade, but when this became somewhat easier in the middle fifties, the hunger for Bibles seemed as painful as a decade earlier, One correspondent for a mission reported he was receiving daily an average of twenty letters containing heart-rending appeals for Bibles. He reported there were ministers in the Soviet Union preaching without benefit of a Bibles The second major need was for ordained presbyters. The war and the earlier purges had severely decimated the experienced and able leaders. Now churches were opening in many locations but there were no presbyters available. In many places women led the services but without the right to perform ordinances. As late as 1953, one fifth of the congregations in the Ukraine still lacked an ordained presbyter.6 President Zhidkov reported they had received many letters in Moscow with the appeal: “Give us workers even if they are old or invalids—we would be happy for all.””7 This was the context for a major revival among Soviet evangelicals. Communication was difficult and religious propaganda was prohibited, yet word of a revival spread rapidly, One participant recalled how news reached his village that in the neighboring village there was a Bible and that a person there had dared to read it in public. Late at night the Bible owner’s Renewal and Church Growth, 1 944-1957 57 house was crowded with expectant persons. Only one candle was lit to facilitate reading of the Bible, and everyone spoke in hushed tones in order not to draw neighbors’ attention. After those persons who could still re- member them had sung several hymns, someone stood up to read from the precious Bible. In the prayer that followed, the kneeling assembly implored God to forgive their sins. Hardened persons found themselves weeping like a baby.8 The unique context clearly shaped the nature of this religious revival. In most localities it was a movement without visible leadership. Traveling evangelists and AUCECB leaders often served as catalysts fo